THE latest model produced by Bentley Motor Cars is already a runaway success.

Crewe's Pym's Lane company has revealed 2,000 orders have already been placed for the six-litre Continental Flying Spur in the two months since it was launched at the Geneva Motor Show.

The 195mph four-door model is the fastest ever car made by Bentley. It is the big brother of the £115,000 Continental GT, which took the luxury market by storm when it was launched in 2003.

The success of Bentley, bought by German giant Volkswagen Group five years ago, has seen the Crewe workforce double in size to 3,500 in the last three years.

A Bentley spokesman said: 'We are that rare thing in the British automotive world, a car company that is expanding.'

The demand for the Flying Spur means some final assembly work may be sent to a VW plant at Dresden, in Germany in order to prevent waiting times escalating.

The company spokesman added: 'What we are doing makes perfectly good sense. If we do decide on the Dresden option it would be a short-term move. It's better to do it this way than take on more people and have to lose them when demand is not as high.

'Dresden is an active consideration, but it would be a temporary over-flow situation. We have got a bottleneck at the moment in that we can't satisfy the demand for the GT and the Flying Spur.'

The company says if any Flying Spurs were made in Germany, they would be sold into Continental Europe, not the UK or US.

Chairman and chief executive of Bentley, Franz-Josef Paefgen said: 'We have expanded the brand, first with the Continental GT, which exceeded our expectations, and now with the Flying Spur.

'We are reaching new markets by offering cars with a combination of power and luxury.'